The Latest (8/13/20):
North Carolina Lt. Gov. Dan Forest speaks to members of the media during a news conference in Raleigh, N.C., Monday, June 29, 2020. Forest plans to sue Gov. Roy Cooper over alleged violations of the state Emergency Management Act during the coronavirus pandemic. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)
North Carolina Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Forest ended a testy legal battle with campaign rival and Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper on Wednesday after a judge recently rejected Forest’s demand to block Cooper from shuttering businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Forest sued the governor last month, seeking to prevent Cooper from unilaterally issuing executive orders limiting business activities and mass gatherings without the approval of a 10-member state body. The Council of State includes Cooper, Forest, Attorney General Josh Stein and several other statewide elected officials. Cooper argued he had sufficient emergency authority to take executive action in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
Judge Jim Gale ruled on Tuesday that Forest didn’t prove he was likely to win arguments that Cooper has exceeded his emergency authority or that the law is unconstitutional. The lieutenant governor informed the court on Wednesday he was dismissing his lawsuit.
“I did my part,” Forest wrote on Twitter shortly after the judge’s decision. “If y’all want your freedoms back you’ll have to make your voices heard in November.”
Liz Doherty, a spokeswoman for Cooper’s campaign, called Forest’s lawsuit “reckless” and said in a statement that it would have hurt public safety.
“While Dan Forest makes reckless decisions that endanger North Carolinians in an effort to prop up his campaign, Governor Cooper will continue to do what is right for their health and safety,” Doherty said.
Public opinion polls have consistently shown Cooper with a double-digit lead over Forest and a stronger chance of victory than other prominent Democrats in key races, such as Senate challenger Cal Cunningham and presidential hopeful Joe Biden.
A July NBC News/Marist poll of 882 registered North Carolina voters found Cooper leading Forest by 20 percentage points, while Cunningham led Republican Sen. Thom Tillis by 9 points and Biden led President Donald Trump by 7 points. The poll reported a margin of error of 4 percentage points.
The Latest (8/12/20):
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper won another legal victory defending his COVID-19 executive orders on Tuesday, this time when a judge rejected Lt. Gov. Dan Forest’s demand that they be blocked by declaring his lawsuit is unlikely to succeed.
The Republican lieutenant governor sued Cooper last month, alleging the Democrat’s orders limiting business activities and mass gatherings and mandating face coverings were unlawful because he failed to first get support from the Council of State. The 10-member council includes both of them, Attorney General Josh Stein and other statewide elected officials.
Cooper’s state attorneys argued in a vitrual hearing last week that the governor acted properly under portions of the Emergency Management Act that don’t require the concurrence of the council. They said the law lets him act unilaterally when he determines local governments are unable to respond effectively in the emergency. Forest counters that Cooper can only act in a limited area without the council’s concurrence.
In denying Forest’s request for a preliminary injunction, Judge Jim Gale wrote that the lieutenant governor hasn’t demonstrated he’s likely to win arguments that Cooper has exceeded his authority or that the law is unconstitutional.
“The court finds no statutory language upon which it can base the limitation the lieutenant governor invites — to confine the governor’s exercise of power …. to only a local or regional area,” Gale wrote. “The language requires the opposite conclusion by suggesting that the governor must act beyond the confines of the local jurisdiction when ‘the scale of the emergency is so great that it exceeds the capability of local authorities to cope with it.’”
Cooper and Forest are running for governor this fall.
Forest has criticized portions of Cooper’s response to the coronavirus, such as business closings and setting options for public school reopenings. But the lieutenant governor has said the lawsuit is only about the governor complying with what the law requires before he acts.
Forest said in a news release that since Gale ruled “Cooper has 100% of the power during a declared emergency,” then the governor also “has 100% of the responsibility” for the results. They include permanently closed businesses, poor handling of nursing home outbreaks and deficient outcomes for students, he said.
“Ultimately, the people of North Carolina will make the final decision in November,” Forest said.
Cooper has said his actions have been based on science and health data, and that Forest’s legal actions, if successful, could worsen case and hospitalization numbers that have recently stabilized or improved.
“Gov. Cooper has taken decisive action with health and safety measures to save lives,” spokesperson Dory MacMillan wrote in an email. “State officials should lead by example and work to protect North Carolinians instead of putting people’s health at risk.”
While most people who contract the coronavirus recover after suffering only mild to moderate symptoms, it can be deadly for older patients and those with other health problems.
Cooper and the state Department of Justice has had a high-winning percentage in court defending Cooper’s more expansive COVID-19 executive orders since they were first initiated in mid-March. Several industries and entities have sued. In May, a federal judge did strike down church attendance limits that the governor set. In a separate case, Gale last month allowed several dozen bowling alleys to reopen, but the state Supreme Court blocked its enforcement while the justices review his decision.
Original Story (8/4/20):
RALEIGH, N.C. — North Carolina Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper and Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Forest are heading to court over whether some of Cooper’s COVID-19 executive orders should be blocked because other elected officials didn’t consent to them.
A state judge scheduled online arguments for Tuesday between lawyers for Forest and Cooper. The two are running against each other for governor this fall.
Forest sued the governor last month, saying Cooper’s unilateral orders shuttering businesses, limiting assemblies and mandating face coverings in public needed the concurrence of the Council of State. State attorneys representing Cooper say the governor didn’t require the council’s OK because of his authority using other emergency powers.
Forest wants the COVID-19 orders blocked temporarily by Judge Jim Gale, but Cooper’s lawyers say doing so could cause a wave of new coronavirus cases, threatening public health. Forest says he just wants Cooper the follow the law when it comes to the pandemic.
